18 Aug 2013
Lessons from Dad: “Btfsplk or Serendip”
In a telephone call some time ago, my Dad told me about a cartoon called Li’l Abner with a character called Btfsplk, who walks around with a cloud over his head with terrible events
before and after.
Earlier, following one of his trips to Sri Lanka, Dad taught us about something else: “serendipity,” the aptitude of making fortunate discoveries by accident. The term was used in a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip [the Arabic name of Sri Lanka] where the heroes possess this gift.
It may be a gift or maybe a choice…to
walk in clouds or to choose a sunburst.
Some
days, things are overcast. Days we hope
to remember will be the serendipity/sunburst days.
Here is one:
Some time back, we heard from our Davies friends in Kaysville
that a favorite nephew was on his way to Honduras and likely would stop here. Our shifts cover only the morning or
afternoon, but if we were lucky…
Thursday of last week, I was showing some sisters out
(people that don’t come here often sometime have a maze of a time trying to
leave!) which made me late for one of my assignments.
When I arrived back to my original
station, I looked up to find a lady in front of me who
looked North American. “Are you married
to Pamela Davies' nephew?” She was. And she is. They came here to experience
Guatemala and Honduras as their twins finished up their missions here. I
was able to help Sister Ward begin and end her session, and introduce Val, who
had officiated.
When I detained
Sister Ward in her dressing room following the session, she shared parts of her
adventures. One of the twins had been
involved in the creation of a new Honduras mission. After planning for months on a family trip
together with parents and two boys, the influx of new missionaries caused the
mission to be split, so the return time for the Honduras missionary was changed. The Honduras twin returned home two weeks
early and his parents purchased him a ticket to come with them on the whole
journey, rather than be scooped up in the middle. Together, they traveled to reunite with
missionary brother in Guatemala, which I learned later, had been in President Amado’s
barrio there.
They attended the Guatemala City temple and I think it was
here that they stayed with an exchange student from years past who had stayed
with the father, Doug Ward’s family years ago, when he was in high school. As the exchange student, now grown with a family,
drove them around, Sister Ward, remembering Portuguese from her own mission
years ago to Brazil, thrilled to watch and hear her sons engage this man and
their drivers in conversation about things that translated that she understood
and to hear them share the things of their hearts with new members,
investigators and others around them.
She glowed as she rejoiced in the growth of her children, the missionary
sons.
I knew we were using valuable time. She mentioned that this was the final of
their ten day excursion. They would
leave the next day to return home. Had
it not been glorious!
When we finished our conversation, I descended the temple
stairs, the husband and sons met me, coming up.
“Mi culpa! My fault! Your mom is
coming…she just had someone slow her down in the dressing room.”
“No problem,” they reassured me, still in their white
clothes. They had thought that before dressing,
they would check the baptistery to see if there was someone there that they
knew. Anyone—a ward member, a new member,
a bishop with ward youth. Well, there was. The
Honduras missionary twin had come out with an elder from the MTC. Unplanned, this companion had just arrived at the
baptistery.
The next day, as I was walking up
from the lower guard station, I saw a trunk open and close of a metallic powder
blue car. Next to it was a different
North American sister who I had helped to finish her session the night before. I had offered head phones for language
translation, but she declined, wanted to try things the Spanish way, which was
delightful. I felt inspired to watch
someone really trying to learn. Well,
here was my chance to hear her story. She introduced herself as Nina Hansen, a single mom from
Cedar City, Utah, with two boys—one in France studying fashion design, and the
other, and Elder Dane Stultz, completing his mission in Honduras-- San Pedro Sula, a
more dangerous part of the country.
Elder Stulz had only been robbed once, while hiking. She had prayed for him and been reassured of
his being protected. Nina, preparing
to get into the driver’s seat, told me that she had learned aggressive
techniques from the mission president’s wife the past four days. Travel funds had been carefully saved from cello lessons that she gave in Beaver, a little city nearly an hour
away, when she was not teaching English as a second language at Southern Utah
University. She had driven her motorcycle
from her little farm to meet the bishop and answer a call to be Relief Society
president. “I am not your ordinary Cedar
City woman!”
“I need someone outside of the mold,”
he had replied.
She explained how she had driven the
four hours to come here on unfamiliar, unregulated streets. Her son, a burly elder preparing to teach
physical education deferred to his mom’s bravery in navigating traffic. “It is so
strange to walk in a mall!” He had
commented. When they arrived at the
temple guest house, they were sent back to the mall. No payments received here--they were to pay
directly to the bank at City Mall, another few miles back. This gave them a deterrent to their wanting
to attend the temple, but there was not another choice. To the mall they drove, and back to the
temple they returned, quickly changing in the parking lot to see if it were
possible to still make a session. Into
the baptistery they walked, and to their surprise, there stood Elder Stultz’s
MTC companion. Serendipity!
Sometimes, walking under clouds, all we need to do is open our eyes. There is often something beautiful hiding if
we will just keep our eyes peeled!
Because my Spanish Bible is peppered with
footnotes, as a chiste or joke, I announced in Noche de Hogar (or Family Night)
that my maiden name (GEE) is famous—it is
found on nearly every page of holy writ in the LDS Spanish edition! GEE stands for Guia or guide, para el Estudio,
or for the study, de la Escrituras or of the Scriptures.
.JPG) |
| See footnotes: GEE Mandamientos; GEE Reverencia... |
Virginia pointed out the Elsie card
Tuesday morning and we smiled. I saw it
again helping sisters in the preparation to the endowment. My name! Upon helping
a sister finish a session that day, I was working with President Cazier (rare)
and looked down to again see “Elsie M. Gee”
staring at me in pink. What were
the chances? He caught the “luck” of it, too.
And we smiled. Every once in a
while, it is good be reassured that someone knows your name. Joseph Smith might have felt that in the
sacred grove, when he was called by name and told there would be a work for him
to do! Someone knows our name and there
are amazing things to do, should we choose to accept them.
Another day, at the end of the session, I again worked with
a brother to assist a sweet aging sister.
The brother made a funny mistake and tried to stifle a small laugh, but
the more he tried to do this, the more he could not help himself. Before long, the older sister with me--who was
trying so hard to say and do things exactly right--caught his laugh. She grinned.
With my arm around her, we clutched our sides, working to keep a straight
face while shoulders shook. It
was a happy, funny moment. And I wonder in our entrance to the next life if mistakes will be made where we catch a chuckle about something funny we did or saw someone else do.
 |
| This was my best find to reflect the light in the eyes of the wonderful ladies I get to meet |
 |
| The Princes of Serendip searched for a camel. I found this one smiling! |
The final amusement or chiste is a fact we learned from
Elder Cruz, guest house director and ex-instructor of natural history. When I inquired about the “hawks” that reminded
of my Boy-Scout-leading father, I found out what these huge black birds truly
are. They are Zopilotes, scavengers—the closest
American counterpart I can come up with is the black vulture.
 |
| Zopilote, perched on our temple path |
Not as inspiring as the hawk…until I
remembered Jungle Book, and the cartoon birds’ barbershop chorus, “Oh we are
friends…Oh we are friends…We are friends to the Bitter end!”
 |
| Click here for accompaniment! |
And this brings us
to my “Anna” story!
Anna Gee, daughter to
my elder brother, went into the Missionary Training Center Wednesday, headed toward Salt Lake temple visitor’s center.
 |
| "MTC, here I come!" |
With no assignment in the shift that morning, I went first thing to the most difficult place. As I watched my feet ascend stairs, I could hear the organ hymn echoing a reminder that it can be a good thing to not shrink from our own “bitter” cups, but face them, front and center.
When I arrived at the destination, there were
not any patrons waiting—nothing to do--only I saw a young pre-missionary
sitting with her back facing the dancing windows, ready to share her destination—Lima, Peru. Finding an empty chair, I told her about
Michael, mi sobrino (my nephew) who served in Peru and his success and
progress. Then, I told her about
Anna. Our director, possibly seeing my
availability and our interest in each other, asked if I would be the missionary’s
attendant. I have not done this. I will do it again and again with joy. It was fulfilling and beautiful…something I
wanted to do ever since Anna wrote and told me how nice it was to be cared for
by a special attendant. After helping
this sister prepare, I was invited to help Val and to be present with this
missionary and her mother from beginning to end of her first endowment session. Amazing…wonderful… and a tender mercy! Even the days following that were less
magnificent keep pointing out to me how so many circumstances lined up to make
that particular day stand out. (And it will surprise
you, what the Lord has done!)
.JPG) |
| This shot is the hint of a 10 minute storm here |
If your path is cloud-filled or brilliant, may you find
moments to recognize happy accidents in your day, encounter familiar friends along
with the foreign who will stay true “to the bitter end!” and amid routine find
place for a smile, a sonrisa, a sunrise to chase away clouds!
 |
| Not our baby--or our grandchild--but a smile worth catching! |
Sincerely, “Ya!”
Love, Elder Val and Sister Laurene
.jpg){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment